Today I publish the penultimate post this year. It’s a New Year message written by Jacqui Reidpath.So, that you know a little of the author, I also publish an autobiography.Jacqui represents very well the world community of fans of Il Divo.This post is special because it summarizes the moments in which fans spent this year. Jacqui in it speaks of our doubts and anxieties of a very appropriate way.This is the point. The fans are not a bunch of fools! We also understand that there is a complex industry involving the music business. Il Divo is part of this machine and, unfortunately, the artist often does not receive the treatment they deserve from the bosses who run the music industry.We fans, did our part. I am hopeful that all the effort of the fans is not in vain.Thank you, Jacqui!Thank you all.I learned a lot from this whole nation called Il Divo.

Jacqui Reidpath

I wrote my first story when I was five, ‘The Gazelle That Lost It’s Stripe’ at Owairoa Primary School, Auckland in 1962.

It was around this age when I began noticing music on the radio and the way people sounded; imagining how they looked. Then television came along and while in Townsville visiting my grandparents, appeared on Channel Nine on a children’s show where two of my sisters and I had to try and eat doughnuts dangling on a string.

In 1964 we moved to Norfolk Island where my parents ran a duty free business. When I was 16 I auditioned unsuccessfully with the new radio station and it was from there that my aspirations to be on radio began.

The family moved to Sydney in 1975 and my dream of being on radio led to professional training in 1981 with the top mixed media professionals of the day. My writing continued in a different vein with learning copy writing and during my training, a traffic calling audition at a commercial radio station.

Through a family friend in 1982, I learned of a community radio station called Ryde Regional Radio starting up and looking for volunteers. I began panel operating training and learned about media law at Macquarie University in Sydney the following year and on March 3rd, 1984, began a twenty career in broadcasting. My many roles included outside broadcasting, office work and served most of two terms on the 2RRR-FM board of Directors in my capacity as Training Co-ordinator.

Through this time I interviewed many diverse personalities and then a friend gave me her Freelance Journalism Diploma because she had changed her mind and wanted to study Law. In 1998 I was a contestant on Sale Of The Century, broadcast out of Melbourne.

My self-taught writing skills had been flourishing during my early twenties with several stories and poems under my belt and while the diploma was unfinished, I did two separate short internships as a researcher at Channel Nine in Sydney working with Mike Munro on their flagship, A Current Affair, in 1999.

Following that in the early 2000s I studied Voice Over at night school and following that, again went to night school and learned Television Presenting. In 2004 I gave up radio due to personal circumstances and for two years did not even listen to the radio. Music became a painful reminder when I couldn’t pursue this great passion of mine.

During 2005 I landed a professional creative online writing job for an educational national/international software company and it was at the end of that year when I first heard the glorious tones of Il Divo. In January 2006 I joined their Official Forum and continued my writing there; sharing my love of music and writing . Their music encouraged me to start listening more intently to the finer attributes of the human voice and why I have come to love writing about them so much.

Their inspiration has become my inspiration. I rely on my instincts when it comes to music and is the mantra I stand by. Early in 2009 I returned to radio briefly with a stint at a nostalgia radio station here on the Central Coast. My expectations as a trained professional did not satisfy my need to remain, so I departed.

Currently a book on the music of Il Divo by way of song reviews, is a work in progress.

My son and I moved to the Central Coast of New South Wales from Sydney in 2007 and is where I have rejuvenated my passion for writing on many topics; discussion boards, biographical, fiction/non-fiction and of course, music.

My aim is to continue to indulge my passion for both either listening to it, writing about it or all three combined! I love sharing my thoughts and opinions with people and it pleases me greatly if people enjoy it.

Kind regards.

Jacqueline

NEW YEAR MESSAGE FOR ALL IL DIVO FANS

To say this year has been quiet for Il Divo, at least from what we have seen, is an understatement.

Since the end of their last World Tour in 2009 the guys have been taking a much needed sabbatical in preparation for their eagerly anticipated new album; with only four concert performances chalked up since March.

Several important inroads to wider exposure saw visits by invitation to new places, putting them on the map with concerts in Abu Dhabi in March, the Beiteddine Festival in May, the Jordan Festival in July with their last public performance to date being Miss Vietnam World in August.

The plan this year was to record a new album and sometimes things happen that delay the best laid plans. This was the case here. There has been no official word on their Forum regarding this and I’m wondering what Il Divo’s management are doing about it. That is something that has been very hush-hush where publicity surrounding their activities in this regard is scant. The speculation this has led to in turn has caused some disgruntled protests amongst the fans and with good reason.

What so many fans don’t understand are the mechanisms of the business. It is after all, only a business, like any other and it requires a huge team of people to run it. The global phenomenon Il Divo have become has dictated that. With that came management changes which catapulted them on the crazy rollercoaster ride which was the extended tour last year.

I have made some observations I find very disappointing in terms of how Il Divo management have behaved this year.

The Il Divo Official web page is a vehicle of communication between artist and fan, as are all official web pages. They are designed to maximise the marketing value of the group and I can’t believe they have been maxed out already.

The revamped version two years ago was set up amongst huge protest initially; with the board moderators coming to the defence of Sony and LiveNation – mainly the big onslaught of complaints came from objections to a user pays system. The current scheduled site update has sat idle for months. We are left wondering even if anybody is in any more aside from the fans. Where did everybody go? Where did management go? Why are they not providing any feedback when there is so much feedback to be had? Are the fans now just expected to talk amongst themselves when to a great majority of us, the music is all that matters?

What is going on?

I hasten to add we can not blame the guys for that. It is not their fault. The blame should be cast fairly and squarely on the shoulders of their management who are supposed to be governing their direction and ensuring the stability of their global network of fans. There is little risk that I can see of loyalty being an issue here, it is more that we want more input from the guys and we are not getting it.

Bottom line.

It seems to me that over the last year, because the arterial management of Il Divo have raked in an obscene amount of money, (a great majority of which I am happy to see has gone to the guys) they have now lost interest in promoting their charges any further. It is disgraceful and appalling if this is the case. Such blatant disrespect in the name of the almighty buck. Shameful.

My point being, was it only about milking the guys for all they were worth and because there is no big money spinner this year, like another tour, Il Divo have been abandoned by the very hand that was to ensure their marketing success? That is what it seems like to me. It is most unusual and very disconcerting at the very least and ominous at worst that the management camp have been so quiet. They know the fans have a right to know what is going on. The contempt they have shown for us however, is not as bad as the way the guys have been treated.

I don’t like it. Countless other fans don’t like it. We know the guys are good for a new album and that is what we’ve been told they are doing. Our faith has not waned while it appears that it has waned elsewhere within their ranks and some time in the New Year, we are told to expect an album. The vibe I am getting is that the state of limbo Il Divo are in and the limbo we are in are two different animals and right now, nobody knows when that will meet in the middle.

The other fact is we must remember they are people as well. They have normal family obligations the same as anybody else and this year I think as much as any other, they have earned the right to keep that for themselves. That is the one aspect of this fickle business they can control without having their strings pulled by the corporate greed factories who milk every ounce of publicity from Il Divo that they can. It isn’t fair to expect them to deliver any more than what they deliver on stage and here again, I think too much speculation in the Press, as we saw with Carlos, has a way of being blown out of proportion.

I think we can care about them as people and be curious about their private lives but in the end, that is theirs alone to share if they so desire. The music business being what it is the fan frenzy, obsession with their private lives and idol worship can find a way of indirectly dictating what it is we need to know and what is only good for marketing purposes. That has a way of backfiring in that the guys are now more reluctant to open up and speak. It is a closed book at the moment.

As long as we love their music, regardless of the wait for this new album and indeed the future of the band, we need to be aware that this is only business. When they started out it was a whole new ball of wax and about as far removed from the solo careers they once had as they could get. The groupie aspect I think was the biggest awakening they ever had initially and to which they have adapted as professionals do but these days – the biggest awakening is just how fickle the music industry is. There is no loyalty when it comes to big business. I have often felt they are too nice for this business. There are too many rats. It can get very dirty but they are big boys, they can handle it.

And Il Divo are big business.

Let’s just hope and pray they are in it for the long haul – and cherish what we already have.

Happy New Year – I hope it brings us clarification – and another brilliant Il Divo album.

Sharyl, you echo the feelings of all Il Divo’s fans around the world deprived of their company. The publicity machine in corporate business rolls very slowly for the erroneously perceived plebs like us who are the cogs in the wheel. Il Divo are the wheel. Their PR is the motor.

Their motor needs an overhaul. In fact they need to be KEELHAULED for the negligent way in which we all, includung the boys, have been treated. It makes me very sad to think they just don’t care about them anymore.

Thanks for the wonderful writing. I believe that integrity is the main word here. Where is the ‘integrity?’ Do the PR people think that the fans are unimportant? Who do they think buy the CD’s, books and flock to their concerts? I would think if you have such an amazing group of talented men performing to equally amazing fans, you would not want to let it slide….I miss ID and don’t want to see them fade away, I just want the chance to listen to their music….thanks again

Thank you for posting this link at the ID Forum Jacqueline, a much needed ray of hope for the fans of Il Divo.I hope every fan that feels neglected reads this message, it’s bound to make them better understand the complexities of the entertainment world.

Von, it is the least I can do. I just couldn’t stand by and stay quiet any more, I had to do something because I could see all of us stuck in a rut and feeling resnetful and doing nothing about it. So I did something about it. I want for all of to get back what we had. For the boys to resume what they have and for all of us to keep our faith – especially, to not blame the boys for all the silence. Blame their bosses. I am glad you appreciate what I said, I feel better knowing I have reached a few ears in a positive way. That is my whole intention. Thanks for the support.

This blog was made with the voice of the heart and not reason. The reason filters the elements that the heart receives. So I see people through the prism of the heart. In a society like ours is very good to know that people still have love, have passion, have emotions. But all this is meaningless unless there is good sense and discretion of the fair.
I thank the fans who act with love and wisdom.
Kisses

Sometimes the truth hurts. If certain parties don’t like what they read that is too bad. Some things are said that have needed to be said for a long time. If we don’t speak out our integrity and that of the target is compromised and I for one am not about to stand back and let that happen.

Tolerating injustice and shutting up about it is more detrimental than certain people realise. So sometimes we need to speak up. Time to shape up, not shut up. Let the chips fall where they may. This is crunch time, we all know it.

We pray for a brighter outcome next year. Fans have a voice and being meek and mild is not going to make a difference, we need to say what we feel. It is about time.

Business is business but fandom is fandom – and that matters too.

Sometimes motors have a way of grinding to a halt. We as fans don’t want to see that happen. So let’s band together and fight for what is right.

I appreciate the kind words.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and that next year becomes an auspicious year.
“For anyone who is there right action, this will be a favorable occasion, an auspicious occasion, an auspicious morning, an auspicious moment, an auspicious occasion, and this action is the veneration of the sacred.”(Anonymous)

Lu, I think it is so important what you are doing here, with your blog. It not only showcases the talents of this incredible group but also gives we, the fans, a voice.

Thank you for you very kind comments about my work. I hope that anybody reading this will empathise with the situation on both sides so that Il Divo cn get on and do what they do best, and that is bringing their music to the world.

Many thanks for involving me and allowing me to express my views. May your blog continue to prosper in the New Year.